Vitor Belfort: ‘I’ll Come Back On October 11th To Fight Matt Lindland For The Belt’

According to comments made by Vitor Belfort in an article at Tatame.com, Belfort will not only be fighting at Affliction’s second show, which is tentatively scheduled for October 11, his opponent will be top ten middleweight Matt Lindland, and it will be for a title.

“The doctor will analyze [my broken hand], but I may stay four weeks out. I’ll come back in October 11th to fight Matt Lindland for the belt.”

Belfort had this to say about Lindland.

“It’ll be a great fight, we’ll see who is the best of the world there. I saw his fight with Negao and he’s a warrior… He comes be over you, but I don’t think he has the strength to stay over me. I’ll go to knock him out… My punches are well-aimed and when it hits he won’t stand.”

If you would have asked me prior to July 19 who would win a match between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort, I would have said Lindland without hesitation. However, after seeing both their fights at Affliction “Banned,” I don’t know that picking the winner is so clear cut anymore. Even though Lindland won, he didn’t look good doing it. Vitor, on the other hand, looked better than we’ve seen him in a long time, at least in the second round. I think the edge still goes to Lindland, but Lindland left himself open and ate quite a few of Negao’s punches. If the Vitor Belfort that knocked Terry Martin shows up, Lindland is going to be in trouble if he lets Belfort land his combinations cleanly.

As for the belt that Belfort mentions, I’m assuming this would be a promotional belt and not a WAMMA belt, which is reserved for the “undisputed” champion in each weight division. Considering Belfort has one fight at middleweight and isn’t anywhere near the top ten, while Lindland has slid down the rankings due to inactivity, it would be a farce to have them fighting for an “undisputed” championship, especially when it’s obvious who the “undisputed” middleweight champion is.